Abstract

My thesis offers a new way of considering Virginia Woolf s writing, and the
different ways in which she introduced the idea of conversation in her writings.
The thesis examines this relatively unexplored area of her work, focusing on six
different kinds of "conversation" in some of her fiction and non-fiction. These
conversations comprise: sending and receiving letters; social and personal
conversation; verbal-visual cross-fertilisation; lectures, discourses, or talks that
she gives to audiences large and small; hidden conversations or implicit
exchanges that Woolf holds with her reader; and the printed discussions and
dialogues that Woolf creates between her characters. After providing a general
introduction, and a review of critiques of Woolf s idea of "conversation", Chapter
One explores the idea that Woolf s conversations with artists originate with her
sister, Vanessa Bell. The second chapter describes the interaction between
Woolf s writing and Impressionism and suggests that Woolf writes in a bold and
colourful style that resembles the techniques of Impressionist painters. Chapter
Three discusses Woolf s conversations with her friend, Roger Fry, which
comprise both an exchange of letters, and direct conversations. Chapter Four
explores how, in To the Lighthouse (1927), Woolf s words interact with Post-
Impressionist ideas, thus creating a figurative dialogue between verbal and visual
arts. In Chapter Five, the conversation that Woolf establishes between the writer
and the reader is considered. Here the origins and shifting meanings ascribed to
conversation in Woolf s fiction and non-fiction are discussed. The conclusion
drawn is that Woolf did indeed adopt a conversational style in a deliberate move
to create a mass audience for her work.